An Israeli mother sent a final WhatsApp message to friends in Sydney shortly before she was slaughtered alongside her husband and three children.
Israel is in a “war to ensure our existence” after Hamas militants launched a devastating attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, warning “difficult days are still ahead of us”.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group which rules the Gaza Strip, launched an extensive multi-pronged attack against Israel on Saturday, coinciding with the Jewish holiday Simchat Torah, catching Israel’s vaunted intelligence agencies completely off-guard. Thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza while militants infiltrated Israeli communities, massacring hundreds and abducting some 150 hostages.
Israel launched a wave of air strikes in retaliation for the bloody incursion and has imposed a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity, food, water and gas to its 2.3 million people. Israel is threatening a ground invasion as more than 300,000 reservists are called up.
Hamas has warned it will begin broadcasting the execution of hostages if Israel targets “innocent civilians”.
Follow our live coverage.
Mum’s chilling final text
An Israeli mother sent a final reassuring WhatsApp message to friends in Sydney shortly before she was slaughtered alongside her husband and three children by Hamas terrorists.
“Hi guys, we got into the shelter in our house, we’re all going okay,” Tamar Kedem-Siman Tov, 35, texted Yishai and Mor Lacob at about 2.45pm on Saturday from their home in the Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel, which had come under missile attack.
An hour later, Tamar stopped responding to texts, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. Not long after, the Lacobs received word that the safe room had been breached by rampaging Hamas terrorists, who massacred the entire family — Tamar, her husband Yonatan, and their children Shachar, 6, Arbel, 6, and Omer, 4.
“Our hearts are shattered,” Yishai wrote on Facebook. “An entire family was killed by evil murderers who shot the children and parents simply because they were Jewish. And this is just one story, among so many. It’s unbearable!”
Tamar, a community activist and women’s rights activist, recently campaigned to become head of the Eshkol Regional Council – and only recently posted a family photo online captioned, “It should be a good year for all of us,” according to the outlet.
“She was such a special woman. She always cared about the poor people, always made sure that people less fortunate will have the same opportunities. She was a living example to these values,” Mor told the newspaper.
White House spokesman chokes up
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has broken down while speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper about the footage coming out of Israel.
“The images that we’re seeing of children kidnapped, of young women who have been abducted, who have blood in their pants because they’ve presumably been repeatedly raped — it’s horrifying, there’s been a lot of death and destruction in that region but I’ve never seen anything like this,” Tapper said.
Mr Kirby was unable to respond for several seconds as he regained his composure. “I’m sorry… excuse me,” he said. “It’s very difficult to look at these images and the human cost. These are human beings, they’re family members, they’re friends, they’re loved ones, cousins, brothers, sisters.”
Death toll rises to 1600
The total death toll now stands at nearly 1600.
At least 900 people are confirmed dead in Israel — including more than 260 who were attending a music festival and more than 100 at a kibbutz near the Gaza border — and 73 soldiers, according to Israeli officials and media.
In Gaza, the health ministry says 687 people are dead, including 140 children. Thousands have been injured on both sides.
The leaders of the US, UK, France, Germany and Italy have issued a joint statement following a call to discuss the Israel situation.
“We make clear that the terrorist actions of Hamas have no justification, no legitimacy, and must be universally condemned,” the statement said.
“There is never any justification for terrorism. In recent days, the world has watched in horror as Hamas terrorists massacred families in their homes, slaughtered over 200 young people enjoying a music festival, and kidnapped elderly women, children, and entire families, who are now being held as hostages.
“Our countries will support Israel in its efforts to defend itself and its people against such atrocities. We further emphasize that this is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage.
“All of us recognize the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, and support equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike. But make no mistake: Hamas does not represent those aspirations, and it offers nothing for the Palestinian people other than more terror and bloodshed.
“Over the coming days, we will remain united and coordinated, together as allies, and as common friends of Israel, to ensure Israel is able to defend itself, and to ultimately set the conditions for a peaceful and integrated Middle East region.”
Obama condemns ‘slaughter’
Former US President Barack Obama has weighed in to support Israel as it “dismantles” Hamas.
“All Americans should be horrified and outraged by the brazen terrorist attacks on Israel and the slaughter of innocent civilians,” Mr Obama wrote on X.
“We grieve for those who died, pray for the safe return of those who’ve been held hostage, and stand squarely alongside our ally, Israel, as it dismantles Hamas. As we support Israel’s right to defend itself against terror, we must keep striving for a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
A young Israeli couple was murdered by Hamas terrorists who broke into their home — but not before the parents hid their 10-month-old twins, who were found alive about 14 hours later, the NY Post reports.
Itai and Hadar Berdichevsky, both 30, were attacked in their home in Kfar Gaza, a kibbutz in southern Israel located about three miles east of Gaza, according to Israeli outlet Walla.
The parents, who hid their babies in a bomb shelter, tried to fight off the terrorists but were murdered, the news outlet reported. Israeli troops rescued the unharmed babies about 14 hours later and handed them to their grandmother.
Mor Bayder says her grandmother’s murder was posted on her social media. Picture: Facebook
Grandmother’s execution posted to FB
An Israeli granddaughter says her heart was “shattered to pieces” after her grandmother was brutally murdered by a Hamas terrorist — who then used the elderly woman’s phone to snap photos of her butchered body and post them to her Facebook account.
Mor Bayder witnessed the “nightmare of [her] life” after logging onto Facebook, where horrifying photos and video footage of her beloved grandmother being slaughtered inside her Nir Oz home were shared on her page, the NY Post reports.
Ms Bayder’s family only learned of her grandmother’s death from the social media post, she wrote in a moving tribute to her grandmother.
“A terrorist came home to her, killed her, took her phone, filmed the horror and published it on her Facebook wall. This is how we found out,” Ms Bayder said. “My grandmother my whole world the light of my life. The pillar of my life, in my family’s life.”
Israeli forces launch artillery fire towards southern Lebanon. Picture: Jalaa Marey/AFP
‘Wrong decision’: US warns Hezbollah
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah should not make the “wrong decision” of opening a second front against Israel as it battles attacks by Hamas, a senior US defence official warned on Monday.
“We are deeply concerned about Hezbollah making the wrong decision and choosing to open a second front to this conflict,” the official told journalists.
One of the reasons Washington is deploying a carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean is to signal that Iran-backed groups such as Hezbollah should not “question the commitment of the US government to support the defence of Israel”, the official said.
The US announced the decision on the strike group, which includes an aircraft carrier and other warships, on Sunday.
Israel and Hezbollah have already traded fire this week, but have stopped short of the devastating full-scale war they fought in 2006 — a repeat of which would force Israel’s military to fight on two fronts, stretching its forces thin.
Hezbollah said Israeli strikes killed three of its members on Monday, after which it targeted two Israeli barracks.
The senior defence official likened the weekend attacks by Hamas to the notorious brutality of the Islamic State jihadist group, which is known by the acronym ISIS.
“This is ISIS-level savagery that we have seen committed against Israeli civilians — houses burned to the ground, young people massacred at music festivals,” the official said.
Video appears to show several Israelis being taken hostage in the Be’eri kibbutz. Picture: Supplied
‘We have to go in’, Bibi tells Biden
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told US President Joe Biden on Sunday that Israel has no choice but to unleash a ground invasion of Gaza.
“We have to go in. We can’t negotiate now,” he said, Israeli and US sources briefed on the call told Axios.
The PM reportedly raised the issue of Israeli hostages in Gaza during the call. He told Mr Biden Israel had no choice but to respond with force because a country can’t show weakness in the Middle East, according to Axios.
“We need to restore deterrence,” he said.
Hamas is not open to negotiating a prisoner exchange with Israel during hostilities, a member of the militants’ political office in Doha said on Monday.
Potential talks on the fate of as many as 150 individuals held by Hamas gained greater urgency as the group threatened to start executing its hostages if Israel carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip without prior warning to residents.
But an informed source told AFP that Qatar is spearheading efforts to negotiate an exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hamas following the Palestinian group’s shock attack over the Gaza border.
Discussions on the release of dozens of people — kidnapped during the Islamist group’s advance into southern Israel on Saturday — had made “some headway”, the source who is briefed on the negotiations said on condition of anonymity, without providing additional details.
Hamas official Hossam Badran had earlier told AFP, “The military operation is still continuing … therefore there is currently no chance for negotiation on the issue of prisoners or anything else. Our mission now is to make every effort to prevent the occupation from continuing to commit massacres against our people in Gaza, which directly target civilian homes.”
An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip on October 9. Picture: Mahmud Hams/AFP
‘A war to ensure our existence’: PM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has addressed the nation in a televised speech, his first public appearance since Saturday night.
“We are on the third day of the operation,” he said.
“We are in an operation for our home, a war to ensure our existence, a war that we will win. This war was imposed upon us by a despicable enemy — by beasts who celebrate the murder of women, children, and the elderly.
“The atrocities carried out by Hamas have not been seen since the atrocities of ISIS. Children bound and executed with the rest of their families, young girls and boys shot in the back, executed, and other atrocities that I will not describe here.
“We have always known what Hamas is. Now the whole world knows. Hamas is ISIS. And we will defeat [Hamas] precisely as the enlightened world defeated ISIS.”
Mr Netanyahu, who sits at the head of a hard-right coalition government, called on Israel’s opposition to form an emergency national unity government “without any preconditions”, The Times of Israel reports.
The PM said the government planned to regain control of the territory and “eliminate terrorists” still present in Israel.
Israel planned to carry out a “massive” assault against Hamas with “unprecedented force” and “strengthen other fronts in the north against Hezbollah” in Lebanon, as well as in the occupied West Bank, he said.
The daughters of Yoni and Doron Asher were kidnapped. Picture: Supplied
Mum and two little girls among hostages
An Israeli mother and her two young daughters were among the more than 100 civilians taken hostage by Hamas, the NY Post reports.
Doron Asher had gone with her young girls to visit their grandmother in the village Nir Oz near the Gaza border over the weekend when Hamas militants descended on the home.
Terrified, she called her husband, Yoni, back in central Israel, but the phone cut out, and he hasn’t heard from her since. “She told me the terrorists are in the house,” and that was it, Yoni said.
Tracking Doron’s phone, her location showed her as being across the border in Gaza, Yoni said. His fears were later confirmed when he saw video on social media that clearly showed Doron and their daughters loaded at gunpoint into a cart along with other hostages and being taken away by Hamas militants.
“I surely identified my wife, my two daughters and my mother-in-law on some kind of a cart and terrorists of Hamas all around them,” Yoni said. “My little two girls, they are only babies, they are not even five years old and three years old … I don’t know in what terms they are captive. I don’t know what happened to them.”
Gaza death toll rises to 687
The death toll in the Gaza Strip rose to 687 on Monday, the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said, as Israel pounded Hamas targets for the third consecutive day.
The Hamas-controlled ministry said hospitals in Gaza had “received 687 martyrs and another 3727 injured” since Israel unleashed a wave of air strikes after a surprise attack on Israel launched by Hamas militants on Saturday morning.
Death toll rises to 800 in Israel
The death toll in Israel has surged to more than 800 after a surprise attack by Hamas, while about 150 “prisoners” were being held by the militant group, the Israel government said Monday.
More than 2600 people were also injured in the assault, according to the latest figures posted by the Israeli government press office on its Facebook page.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture: Sebastian Scheiner/AFP
Foreigners killed, missing or abducted
Dozens of foreigners have been killed, injured or taken hostage during a surprise attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas Saturday that has left 800 people dead, mostly Israelis.
Many of the missing foreigners were at an electronic music festival in the southern Israeli desert, at which scores of revellers were massacred.
Here is what we know so far.
Thailand: 12 dead, 11 hostages — Twelve Thai labourers were killed, eight were wounded and 11 were taken captive, foreign ministry spokeswoman Kanchana Patarachoke said Monday. Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said there were around 5000 Thai labourers working in the areas hit by fighting who were being moved to safety.
Nepal: 10 dead — Ten citizens of Nepal were killed in Kibbutz Alumim, one of the flashpoints of the Hamas assault, the Himalayan republic’s embassy in Tel Aviv said on Sunday. Four others were being treated in hospital while a search was underway for a fifth person, the embassy added. Kibbutz Alumim was hosting 17 students at the time of the attack.
Argentina: 4 dead, 5 missing — Argentina’s foreign ministry on Monday confirmed that four of the country’s nationals were killed and five others were missing.
US: 11 dead, others missing — The United States on Monday confirmed the deaths of at least 11 US citizens and said it was “likely” that Americans were among the hostages being held by Hamas.
Ukraine: 2 dead — Two Ukrainian women who had been living in Israel for years were killed, Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Sunday.
France: 2 dead, 14 missing — Two French people have been killed in “Hamas’s terrorist attacks against Israel”, the French government said. A 12-year-old is among 14 of its nationals missing after Hamas launched deadly raids into Israel, the French foreign ministry said calling the situation “worrying”. “Based on the information we have, we consider it highly likely that some of them have been abducted”, the ministry said in a statement, adding that “this number is still subject to change”.
Russia: 1 dead, 4 missing — At least one Russian has been killed and four others are missing, the Russian embassy in Tel Aviv announced on Monday, quoted by the Russian news agencies.
Hamas warns it will execute hostages
Hamas has warned Israel that if it bombs civilian houses in Gaza without warning then the militants will execute Israeli hostages in return, according to Reuters.
Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida said that every Israeli massacre or attack without prior warning on Palestinian homes will be met with the execution of an Israeli captive.
“And we will be forced to broadcast this execution,” he said. “It is a final warning and it is a final ultimatum.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Monday to “change the Middle East” in Israel’s war with Palestinian militant group Hamas, as the army pounded the Gaza Strip with air strikes.
“What Hamas will experience will be difficult and terrible … we are going to change the Middle East,” Mr Netanyahu told officials in the country’s south where Hamas militants carried out a surprise attack on Saturday morning. “This is only the beginning … we are all with you and we will defeat them with force, enormous force.”
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